Cairo, Egypt - May 6 to 8, 2013

Organizers - WIPO in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology

The Second WIPO Inter-Regional Meeting on South-South Cooperation brought together developing countries, least developed countries (LDCs) and other interested countries to share experiences, lessons learned and to identify opportunities for enhanced cooperation in the field of patents, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs and enforcement. It also provided a platform for discussing different policy options and their potential impact on development policies in developing countries and LDCs at the national, regional and international levels and thus contributed to enhancing the capacity of policy makers to take decisions on these subjects.

The Meeting was open to policy makers, government officials, representatives of IP Offices and IP experts from developing countries, LDCs and other interested Member States, including regional and international governmental organizations of developing countries and LDCs and non-governmental organizations.

Main topics:

Patents: the discussions focused on patent systems and the need for coherence between patent law and public policies in developing countries and LDCs, patent-related flexibilities and their importance for developing countries and LDCs, the interface between IP and competition policy, and national experiences in supporting innovation, technology transfer, patent information and knowledge dissemination. A series of roundtable discussions also provided a forum for sharing experiences and lessons learned with regard to the development of national patent and innovation strategies and with regard to the infrastructure and institutional capacities needed for an effective use of the patent system in developing countries and LDCs.

Trademarks and Geographical Indications: the meeting addressed policy issues facing developing countries and LDCs in the field of trademarks, other distinctive signs and the public domain, geographical indications in the implementation of public policies in developing countries and LDCs and their socio-economic dimension, and finally provided a platform for sharing experiences and best practices with regard to the development of IP and branding strategies

Industrial Design: here, the discussions focused on the protection of industrial designs in developing countries and LDCs and on national strategies for industrial design, innovation and IP protection.

Enforcement: finally, the meeting addressed the issues of IP enforcement taking into account socio-economic, technical and development variables, including in the context of recommendation 45 of the WIPO Development Agenda, as well as experiences and lessons learned of the contribution of right holders to IP enforcement and the cost thereof. Last but not least, the meeting addressed progresses and challenges in the field of national strategies against piracy and counterfeiting in developing countries and LDCs.